HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On what he attributes the slow start to …
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Tried to rectify it at halftime. And we had a response. I’m at a bit of a loss, really, because the one thing that we spoke about is starting the games quickly on the front foot. At home especially. And, I said to you guys in the week that if we don’t treat these with the respect that they deserve, then the game is gonna be a difficult afternoon. I thought we might have just got out of it. In the end, two points dropped because we started the game like we did. No other reason. The energy that we had to do after that to get ourselves back into it and get them out of their comfort zone, play forward, run forward, get to the first ball. That’s all the things that you have to do. You’ve heard me say it before. There’s both sides of football. I never, ever have a problem with us with the ball. I know we are good enough to create chances against anybody. Hopefully that’s… we’ve learned our lesson.”
On this being one of those games that feels like a loss and the team relaxing in the last 15-20 minutes …
“I think it was because of the energy that we had to put in to get ourselves back into the game. As much as we were on top, we left ourselves very vulnerable at times. In the counterattack. They’ve got some guys who can run. But, no, we’ve put ourselves in the hole that we were in. It’s too much energy and too much emotion from the crowd to get ourselves back in it, to get to 2-1. And then, you know, in the end, you run out of that emotion. It’s been a really frustrating evening. Because, as I stand here now, we can see… what did we have? Four or five great chances second half? Great chances. Not difficult chances. Great chances. But, it’s frustrating yeah.”
On what he saw on the Brent Kallman goal that he scored …
“You know, I didn’t even know Brent [Kallman] had scored. I couldn’t…from where we are, it’s just the bodies. I’ll have to see it again.”
On what adjustments he made at the half to aim for a better start …
“As I probably said on the broadcast, the two that came off, couldn’t find themselves unlucky because it could have been five or six the way we played. And, I just felt down that side that if we had a bit more pace, we’d get more energy, and we might use that area. Because I felt that was where most the of space for us was and I don’t think we used it well enough when we had the ball first half.”
On what the team had to do to close games like this …
“Well, I’ve just said, we had three or four great chances to totally finish the game off. It would have gone to 3-1. The game would have been closed out. So, hey, you have to take chances when they come along. That’s, you know, it’s the oldest saying in football. Goals change games. Franco [Fragapane] had two great chances in the first one, five minutes second half. So, we’ve had lots of opportunities this evening. But, closing games out, you know, at one stage in the first half after 25 minutes I didn’t’ think we were going to be in the game. The way we played. But we got a response out of them. It’s seven games undefeated now. And as I said, if we didn’t go to Portland and get a point last week, then, today, would have said that’s a great little return. Sometimes it goes the other way around. But, yeah, I’m not best pleased at this moment in time, to be honest with you.”
On Michael Boxall’s status …
“He’s got a problem, high up in the groin, but close to the joint. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow. Obviously, we don’t know where that’s going to leave him regarding the Olympics, etcetera. We’ll have to wait and see. But, we’ll have a better idea tomorrow when he’s had a night’s rest. We’ll see where he is.”
On the team visibly losing energy in the last 15 minutes, but also visibly displaying incredible focus, discussing all decisions …
“I try not to get involved too much with the referees, but I don’t think he had his best night. That’s the best way of describing it. I’ll leave it at that. I just don’t think he had his best night. It happens. Some of our players didn’t have their best nights as well. That’s human nature. That’s the way it is. I think it’s one of them when he looks back he’ll think, maybe, one or two of them decisions. And they could have been costly one or two of them as well. You know, we had a couple of breakaways where he pulled him back. And, I thought there was a foul on Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] when they go down and they scored. But, ifs and buts, I’m afraid that is.”
On Franco Fragapane playing tonight with the investigation and if it’s an instance of innocent until proven guilty …
“I thought that was American law, isn’t it? I didn’t realize we were guilty by association. So, we’ll see. Hopefully they’ll have a resolution in the next few days.”
On DJ Taylor’s Minnesota United debut …
“I thought he was excellent when he came on. You know, he’s a really good one on one defender. He’s got good pace. And he jumped in at the right time. I thought he could be really pleased for his first one for us.”
On any lessons he has learned as head coach tonight …
“I would say it’s a lesson learned. The one thing I do know, and I’ve known this over a long period and a long career. If you start slow and don’t respect the opposition and don’t do the things that you’re good at, and then you have to chase the game, it becomes a very long evening. That’s what tonight has been.”
On what the impact of the other substitutions he made was …
“I thought Wanchope [Ramon Abila] did great when he came on. He gave us a focal point and he linked up really well, some of the little overs and combination play. I thought he did really well. It’s been a frustrating start for him. But, hopefully that will give him a big of confidence and we’ll see where we go from there. But, he’ll certainly be better for coming on and having 45 minutes. And having a response. Which he has. The players have responded being around him. I think the crowd have responded to him as well. So, he’ll be better for that 45 for sure.”
On looking big picture with a third of the season gone, and how he assesses the team’s start …
“Well, I didn’t anticipate an 0-4 start, I’m going to be honest. But, since then, we’ve been very good. And we have to continue like that. If we play on the front foot, we’re a really good team. If we drop it 10, 15 percent, then we’re no different than anybody else. And I know I’m not talking about just my team there. That’s this league.”
DEFENDER BRENT KALLMAN
On his goal and the team’s/Bakaye Dibassy mistakes and possible solutions…
"First, thank you. The goal was weird. Corner kick goes over my head to the far post and I see that Fraga [Franco Fragapane] was going to do a bicycle kick but I wasn’t really expecting it to come right at me. I took a horrible touch. I don’t think I should’ve gotten to the ball but maybe it’s because of me leaning on him and putting pressure on him, I kinda realized ‘oh you know I have a chance to get here’ and I just wrapped my hips as much as I could to try and get it across the goal or on the target and it went in. It was a strange goal for sure.
The second piece, it’s hard to just to pick out one person. The mistake sucks but I made something similar in the second half – where a ball I actually should have probably played safe and go big, I tried to take a little touch and knock it down to Wil [Trapp]. Wondo’s [Chris Wondolowski] a great player but it was a good thing he’s not faster otherwise he would have scored for sure. Those are the little moments we got to cut out. We know it. It’s hard enough to win games in the league as it is. Just giving away goals is going to keep hurting us. In those little key moments we gotta be smarter and if that means just kicking the ball further up the field and being safe then that’s just what we have to do.”
On what he saw from the team within the first 30 minutes and what might have been lacking…
“I don’t know, sometimes we start slow. I mean we always talk about how important a good start is and tonight it just took us a while to get going. I can’t tell you exactly what the reason is but we know we got to be better than that to start.”
On the second goal the team conceded…
“The ball went out wide on my side. It was a little bit of a counter. The field was open a bit. The winger [Shea Salinas] had come inside in kind of a half space. He got the ball and was able to turn. He found a nice little pocket and was able to dribble in and get a shot from close range. I should have probably come sooner but I thought Wil [Trapp] was kinda going to have it covered and I was really late to break. If I was to step further or even a half step, I probably would’ve gotten a block in. I haven’t watched it back yet but I know I was late making a jump. Part of the reason why I was protecting the space so much is that when [Chris Wondolowski] comes on the field you’re just paranoid. You know he’s behind you. If I go too far I’m leaving a big hole, and you know he’s going to be in it. I got caught up too much just protecting space. I didn’t break.”
On looking up into the crowd after the goal…
“My girlfriend is over there. My family is all down in Omaha. I wish they were here. They’re all going to Omaha for the Fourth of July. My girlfriend and my friends are over there.”
On what made the team perform better in the second half…
“I think a lot of it was energy related. It’s no secret that [San Jose] plays a weird style and we were very well prepared for it. We just got back to the basics of what we worked on during the week. Finding the free man who’s not man marked, taking space and finding the next pass. We struggled to do it the first half. There were a lot of turnovers. The second half was a lot better.”
DEFENDER CHASE GASPER
On having a rough start at the binning of the season but improving with the team…
“Thank you. Yeah everyone is entitled to their opinion and just work hard and do my best”
On the outcome of the game…
“No not a positive. Anytime we play at home we expect to get three points. You know there’s no disrespect to San Jose, it’s just that they haven’t been in the best form and we’ve been in form, so we were hoping to capitalize on that and get a huge three points that I think would have boosted us into the top four standings but unfortunately didn’t happen. So it’s not the best feeling coming out of this game but, just looking at positives. We continue our undefeated streak and you know it’s the dog days of summer right now so it’s a really tough time to play for everyone in the league and so we are just focusing on closing out this stretch against Colorado and a big game on Wednesday which, you know, last time we were there left a bitter taste in our mouth how it ended so we are looking to write some wrongs there.”
On the play leading up to the penalty...
“Yeah I remember Wanchope [Ramon Abila] was fighting for it at the top of the box and he came out with it and he played it in front of me, so Judson coming in really fast and I didn’t really get a chance to look up and see who’s in the box. So I just cut it back and I felt my right foot get hooked and I got tripped up and so I thought that should have been called right away but I mean I understand refs just doing his job just doing his best and I think the right call was called in the end. But I don’t know it happened really fast I kind of got to watch it again to really remember what happened.”
On the slow start of the game…
“I don’t know I don’t really want to say anything like there’s no excuse we don’t want to give excuses out there. Like I did say beforehand it is the summer- we’ve kind of just stretched very tough but it’s tough on everyone. And [San Jose] is playing away from home, and they came out flying so I think it’s just unacceptable on our end and we are definitely we are going to look to change that going into the following game. But on the positive side when we came out in the second half there was a total opposite, we did a 180, and we were all over them on the front foot so we need to take some positives out of this game we didn’t lose, we just tied. I think the second half we did much better we were on the front foot and created a lot of chances, we were just unlucky that it didn’t go in. [JT Marcinkowski]- huge save on Fraga [Franco Fragapane] so they made some big plays and unfortunately didn’t go our way. But we are still onto a winning streak and looking and hoping to get three points next game.”
On trying to contain Cade Cowell and the goal that slipped through…
“Yeah he is a really good player, great talent, young guy coming out, exciting to watch, lot of athleticism and speed so he’s always someone you need to keep an eye on. And I thought we did a good job with him just things happen and it’s a part of the game. I’ve been there earlier in the season, so yeah he’s a great player and I thought he did a really good job tonight and we are going to learn from this one and focus on Colorado.”
On Hassani Dotson’s proposal…
“I haven’t talked to him if he wants to give away details. It’s incredible. His fiancé Petra is amazing she visits all of the time so we are so happy for him he’s such a great guy. Knowing Hassani [Dotson], you knew this was going to come eventually but sooner rather than later so we are all just so happy for him, what a great moment, and to do it in front of the Minnesota United Fans was so cool. We all thought it was a great idea. Great guy, great girl, everyone is really happy for both of them.”
On the first 40 minutes and the way San Jose played…
“They came out with a lot of energy, and we pressed really hard. They are a really fit team so they can do that better than most. I just think we didn’t come out with energy we were playing a little lethargically and it cost us and you can’t do that in this league. Especially against a team like San Jose. Credit to them they have such a strong determination and will, that the style they play, it’s easy I guess to kind of give up because you definitely get tired all of the time and concede a lot of goals so I mean I think it’s a testament to their attitude, their mentality, that they are always going to fight, they never give up and I think that’s a great characteristic of the team and that’s how it started. Clearly that showed on the field but to bring it back to us we kind of woke up in the second half and we did the same thing back to them and we created a lot of chances. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way so you know there are positives to take out of this so we will do that and now we are just focused on Colorado on Wednesday.”
